During the search for a missing girl, a body was found on Wednesday 6 June in the German town of Wiesbaden-Erbenheim. Up to 400 police officers were occupied with the case, searching through the area next to a railroad track. The dead girl was found, hidden under wood and sods. The police are looking for witnesses who might have seen anything in the field in the night of 22 on 23 May.

Susanna Maria Feldmann, from the German city of Mainz, went missing on 22 May. She went out in Wiesbaden with friends, but did not return home at night. Her mother, Diana Feldmann, reported getting a strange Whatsapp-message from her 14-year-old daughter, which read:

“Mother, don’t look for me. I’ve gone with my friend to Paris. I’ll be back in two, three weeks.“

A local website reported that her mother was puzzled and deeply concerned by the message, saying:

“That is not the way my daughter writes and I don’t know if it was written with her consent.“

She reported her daughter missing, leading to the Mainz police organising a large search for the girl. On Sunday 3 June, a witness came forward with information, leading the police to concentrate their efforts in the Wiesbaden-Erbenheim area. According to the Public Prosecutor, the body of a young female was found in a barely accessible terrain, known locally as ‘Unterm Kalkhofen‘.

Newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) reported on 7 June that the body was of Susanna. Public Prosecutor Achim Thoma, during a press conference on Thursday, said the autopsy had confirmed her identity. Cause of death is said to have been “use of force on the neck.” In addition, the autopsy found that the girl was raped, leading the Chief of Police to speak of

“a very repugnant crime“

Investigator initially assumed there are two suspects: a 20-year-old Iraqi and a 35-year-old Turkish citizen.

The 35-year-old Turk has been apprehended on Wednesday, and was to be brought before the magistrate on Thursday. He was released subsequently released due to lack of evidence.

The 20-year-old Ali Bashar is well known to the police. He is said to have threatened a man with a knife in a robbery. On another occasion, he is said to have attacked a female police officer. He is also suspected of having raped, in March 2018, an 11-year-old girl in the refugee home he was staying. SZ wants to stress, however, that it is unclear if he was involved.

Bashir arrived in Germany on 16 August 2015, but had his asylum application rejected. He stayed, however, suiing the German state over the rejection. His asylum case if formaly still pending.

Police published search photograph of Ali Bashar (Source: dpa)

What does seem to be clear, is that Susanna knew Ali Bashar’s younger brother. Investigators say that their precise relationship is unclear, but that it isn’t thought to be romantic. Ali Bashar’s role in her rape and murder came to light, after a 13-year-old boy living in the same refugee home as Ali and his family, pointed him out. The boy said that Ali had boasted of the crime. He was praised by the Chief of Police for speaking up.

Investigations in the refugee home seem to indicate that Ali’s family – father, mother and five siblings – have abruptly packed up their things and left. Police found, that a family of eight boarded a plane on Düsseldorf airport heading for Istanbul last week, to transfer to a flight to Erbil, Iraq. They are suspected of being the Bashar-family traveling under a false name.

At around 12:00 today the news broke that Ali Bashar had been detained in Northern Iraq by Kurdish security forces. It is as of yet unclear if he will be extradited to Germany.